Photo Software

My first choice would be to put them into "powerpoint" or whatever similar program that you have and then you are able to run them in sequence.

Some viewers just allow you to open the folder that contains the pictures and run them as a continuous loop "slide show" that might be what you are after.

If you're looking for 'low cost' alternatives to Powerpoint^TM, I'd suggest installing LibreOffice, they have an open-source equivelant to Powerpoint that's about as east to use as the original, if not slightly easier.

Google time-lapse for PC.

While I am about it can anyone explain how to do this using still shots taken with an old type camera with film.

Use a scanner to convert the images to a digital format or just plain use your digital camera to photograph the photos using the camera's close-up setting (its the setting that commonly looks like a picture of a flower).

Simple as that.

There used to be the TIFF format which created little movie like sequence of pictures.

Find a program that can turn pics into TIFF's.

Never done this so try the Windows tools like Paint and see what it can do!

I've used freeware to convert still shots into short videos, i.e., animated gifs.

For old print photos, you'll need to scan them into your computer first. A photo editor like Adobe Elements (not free) might be useful to make sure the photos all have similar brightness, contrast, and similar gray scale.

I'm not sure if this is the best freeware gif-maker program around, but something like this will work:

http://makeagif.com/

You can use software like Windows Movie Maker and its tutorial I just linked to take a series of stills and convert into frames for a video.

As far as film goes, just take the film to any photo/camera store and have them scan it to digital DVDs.

There are various online services that do the same, but a local film developer can do it, unless you want very high resolution scans, which doesn't make sense for video work.

Lastly, some camera store offer various photography courses (ours does) and you might find an instructor that can specifically show you how to get the job done either for free or a small charge.

I know you are using Windows but the following might be helpful anyway.

On a Linux box I have used ffmpeg to do what you want to do. It might be available on Windows or you might be able to find someone with a Linux box.

There are a number of video editors for Windows that will probably do it. Other posters can probably help with this. Linux has OpenShot and KDen Live as two of the more user friendly video editing systems. I think at least one of them can do it. I know for sure Cinelerra can but somehow I have never overcome the pain-in-the-butt aspects of Cinelerra to make it a useful tool for me.

The very useful program ffmpeg has been "depreciated" and the newer program should be able to do more and might be more likely to have a Windows version. I don't recall for sure but it has a somewhat obvious name like "avconvrt" (probably wrong but similar).

Most programs will probably want the files to be sequentially numbered. Something like image_001.jpg, image_002.jpg, etc. If you do not have the files sequentially numbered then you might be forced to manually place them one at a time on a timeline (not fun).

Save up $200 dollars and buy a used Mac with iMovie software on it, even the old versions from years ago will let you just drag and drop them into a movie. Always use the right tool for the right job, Mac's were made to do this, using Windows 2010 is like carving a turkey with a screwdriver, you can do it, but why would you? If you want to buy a real "Pro" level software that is being used to make real movies, Apple sells Final Cut Pro for just $299.

"While I am about it can anyone explain how to do this using still shots taken with an old type camera with film."

Are these prints or slides? Some scanners have a holder in the cover for slides, our HP G3010 at work has. You can also get specific scanners for slides. Otherwise, as others have said, you can scan or photograph prints.

Those scanners are not cheap and if this is not a regular thing, having a store do it for you only costs pennies per slide or picture.

If you just want a "slide show" (especially for non-techies) you can burn the jpg files to a cd and most DVD players can read the CD and will present a slide show on the attached TV.

For existing non-digital pics, I bought a device awhile back to scan 4x6 snapshots and directly write the jpg files to a SD card (no computer required "Pandigital PANSCN01 PhotoLink Mini Scanner") that does a pretty good job. I'm thinking (but not sure) the manufacturer is PanDigital. I see a bigger version for 8x10 photos at Walmart for $70

Thank you all. I have just returned to my computer, after 3 days away, and read but not yet digested any of your replies. In the Morning I will. A few ideas have percolated through the outer covering of bone but I need to go through them all again. Keep the ideas coming. Thank you.